Tim Ainley, CEO of Forward Edge, recently shared an inspiring message at a graduation commencement ceremony that is a timely and impactful message for us all. But, especially for recent graduates, young adults, and teens, these words could be the guiding principles you need as you step into a world with a million different possibilities:
Read Part 3: Let God’s Will Come to You
And finally, here’s my fourth and final piece of advice:
What? Live to be forgotten? That’s weird, right? This is a hard one for me. Because everyone wants to be remembered. Everyone wants to leave an impression. Everyone wants to be esteemed and honored and recognized, right?
But what was John the Baptist famous for saying as his ministry was coming to a close? “He must increase, and I must decrease.” I must fade away, and be forgotten, so that He can be the one remembered.
Paul says in Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loves me and gave Himself up for me.
Well first, we see that Paul knows Whose he is, right? And in that, Paul considers himself dead – he no longer lives. His life is Christ’s now. He belongs to Him.
In Philippians 1:21, Paul says for him, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Graduates, let’s not live to make names for ourselves. Let’s live to make known the name of Jesus. Let’s daily pick up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow Him.
Let’s remember that we are His – He bought us with his life, so let’s give Him back what He paid for: our lives.
Let’s not live for our own sake’s, but like Jesus, let’s live for the sake of others. Let’s serve others because that’s what we were created to do.
And let’s not run ahead of God, striving to make things happen in our own strength. Let’s be patient and enjoy the freedom that comes when we let Him lead.
Down the street from Forward Edge’s office is a cemetery: Memory Memorial Park. I took a walk through it a few weeks ago, just praying, asking God what He wanted me to share with you all.
I was looking at all the tombstones, and was surprised to see how old they were. Many of the people buried there lived more than 200 years ago; we’re talking early 1800s.
As I looked at one of them – John Becker, born in 1818 – I thought to myself, “you know, I bet nobody today has any clue who John Becker was. He’s been completely forgotten.”
He had no flowers on his grave. None of them did in this old section of the cemetery. There were flowers in the newer section. But not here. Because no one remembers these people anymore. They’re all forgotten.
And the reality is, someday, same is the future for you and me. Two hundred, three hundred years from now…the odds are…we will all be forgotten.
But you know who won’t be? Do you know whose name will never be forgotten? In fact, do you know whose name will be heard by every tribe and every nation and every tongue on the face of the earth? The only name by which men can be saved…the name by which every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess He is LORD. The name of Jesus Christ.
So, I implore you, graduates…live to be forgotten, and…
Long live the name of Jesus Christ.
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18 yrs. old
Entered the program: May 2023
Queensley lives with her grandmother and brother in a one-bedroom mud house roofed with sheetmetal. The community has electricity but no potable water. They must walk long distances to find water sources. Access to health care in the community is very poor; they have a hospital but no medication. There is one primary and middle school with only two teachers for over 200 students. Children whose parents cannot afford to send them to school are often left on the streets to fend for themselves during the day. The main occupation is farming but many people in the community are unemployed and live on less than 1 dollar a day.
